Air France? Ptui!

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:

I agree about Northwest (in spades!), although I practically
had to trip a passing flight attendant on Air France to get
him to answer the call light I'd had on for over an hour!
(The explanation: "There's a boy playing with the bells, so
we've just been ignoring them."!)


That boy must've been changing seats a lot...



Geoff

--
"Hey! Back off on the French! For all their faults, they
are *still* the only nation on Earth who knows how to
properly deal with Greenpeace." -- Art Walker

"Geoff Miller" a écrit dans le message de news:
...

Snip

Yes, there's a sizable Hispanic underclass. Anybody who matters
speaks English, however. I see no need to lower myself to learn
the patois of busboys and cleaning ladies. Let them learn *my*
language, as part of earning their way up in the world.

What a ****ing racist you are..!!! Hey guys..We just hooked another stupid
racist..!!
You have better to learn Spanish right now...Because Hispanic are going to
take over..!! Before Chinese...

Sovereign writes:

: Yes, there's a sizable Hispanic underclass. Anybody who matters
: speaks English, however. I see no need to lower myself to learn
: the patois of busboys and cleaning ladies. Let them learn *my*
: language, as part of earning their way up in the world.

What a ****ing racist you are..!!! Hey guys..We just hooked another
stupid racist..!!

Er, I think you might want to rethink the idea of who hooked whom.
I mean, you're the one who came on all earnest 'n' stuff, and who's
now visibly angry...and driven to profanity, no less. My, my.

The existence of an underclass is an economic matter. The term carries
no implications as to the group's intrinsic worth as human beings.
Therefore, racism has nothing to do with it.

Proof:

Would you you insist that Hispanics in America are every bit as well
off economically as whites? I suspect not, because they aren't.

Would you deny that Hispanics are disproportionately represented among
the ranks of menial workers performing unskilled and low-skilled jobs
in America? Again, I suspect not, because they are.

Therefore, they're an underclass. Badda-bing, badda-boom; send in the
next case.

Now then, wasn't that easy? Nary a slip 'twixt cup and lip, eh what?

If you liberals could break yourselves of emotionalizing and learn to
channel all that energy into a more cerebral approach to things, you'd
be a lot happier and more productive (and much less of a pain in the ass,
in the bargain). Then again, I suppose that if you could do that, you
wouldn't be liberals. It's a pair a'docks.


You have better to learn Spanish right now...Because Hispanic are
going to take over..!! Before Chinese...

You sound like you can't wait. Another guilty liberal who wants to
see Euro-Americans commit cultural suicide...



Geoff

--
"Hey! Back off on the French! For all their faults, they
are *still* the only nation on Earth who knows how to
properly deal with Greenpeace." -- Art Walker

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...

(snip)

Aka "too stupid to learn more than one language" - and that one poorly, in
many cases! As to "linguistically homogeneous", where do you live? (In
some parts of the country Spanish is more frequently spoken than English.)

Not a matter of stupidity- most people have trouble learning other languages
as an adult. By that, I mean being able to think in the second language and
generate conversation directly, not having to constantly translate in their
head. It's a brain wiring thing. Kids, mostly, learn languages very easily,
up to age 8 or 10 or so. I've only known 2 people in my life who retained
that ability into adulthood. Some of us, on the other end of the spectrum,
have below-average language learning skills, even though we pick up other
skills and subjects quite easily. I barely remember any of my high school
German, and while I can understand a little of my family's ancestral
language, Latvian, it is mostly from the non-spoken context, face to face.
On the radio or written, forget it. My parents had no expectation that the
USSR would ever collapse, and not wanting us to be 2nd and 3rd generation
professional refugees, did not make us speak it at home, or enroll us in the
cultural camps every summer like the 'good' Latvian expats in the US and
Canada did. So, by 7 or 8 or so, it was mostly gone. I know my parents meant
well and wanted us to assimilate into the US culture, but it was a bit of
pain visiting back there last year and being basically helpless without a
translator. My mother retired back there after USSR collapsed, and reclaimed
the old family properties, and is quite happy. But she honestly can't
understand why none of her offspring are real anxious to make 2nd visits
back to see her...

For the record- I think waiting till junior high/high school for teaching
foreign language classes is idiotic. I think they should be built into the
grade school curriculum. Not as a scary seperate subject or unit, but as
part of normal teaching. ie, add a few translations to the vocabulary list
each week- 'cat' in english= 'gato' in spanish, etc. When talking about
subject/verb/object in sentences, throw in how sentences are structured in
other languages. Have kids who speak other languages at home walk around the
room and do 'point and say' demonstrations. That sort of thing. Do that from
kindergarten on, and a lot of kids will pick up some non-english skills
without even noticing it. Then, at 5th or 6th grade or so, you can start
having a painless transition to actual language classes. Not aimed at making
them fluent speakers, but to make them able to understand and speak enough
to bail themselves out of common situations.

aem sends...

oh, right, your friend the trend-setter whom we must all imitate

I wonder why you call it "trouble". I have an American 63-year old friend who decided to
learn French some three or four years ago. She is meeting people, discovering another
culture (read "universe") and having lots of fun. Between classes they meet and each
brings a French dish; they chat, exchange recipes and have a great time. Where the hell is
the "trouble"??

Magda wrote:

... oh, right, your friend the trend-setter whom we must all imitate

Only if you have at least three ounces of brain cells. Any less, don't bother.


youre missing something here. nice that youre friend is happy and doing
well, but she is the exception rather than the rule. k?

"Magda" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:45:39 GMT, in rec.travel.europe,
arranged some
electrons, so they looked like this:

...
... "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message
... ...
...
... (snip)
...
... Aka "too stupid to learn more than one language" - and that one
poorly, in
... many cases! As to "linguistically homogeneous", where do you live?
(In
... some parts of the country Spanish is more frequently spoken than
English.)
...
... Not a matter of stupidity- most people have trouble learning other
languages
... as an adult.

I wonder why you call it "trouble". I have an American 63-year old friend
who decided to
learn French some three or four years ago. She is meeting people,
discovering another
culture (read "universe") and having lots of fun. Between classes they
meet and each
brings a French dish; they chat, exchange recipes and have a great time.
Where the hell is
the "trouble"??

You're being deliberately obtuse. Trouble not in the trying, trouble in the
successful learning. Everybody has things they can grasp quickly, and things
they can't. I can, and have, built computers from piles of loose parts, but
I couldn't run a sewing machine if my life depended on it.

aem sends...

Geoff Miller wrote:
EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:


"Need"? Perhaps not, but it might enlarge your view of the
world considerably, if you did!


My view of the world is adequately large as-is, but thanks for
your concern.



Aka "too stupid to learn more than one language" - and that
one poorly, in many cases!


That's a hell of a thing to say about the citizens of the country
who liberated France from the Knotsies. What's the French word
for "ingrate?"

I'm an American, too, you idiot! (Fortunately not all of us
are redneck chauvinists.) As to "liberating" France, it took
us long enough to get involved, and France and Britain were
doing quite well despite the Nazi's superior forces. Also,
without Russia, even the addition of American military
forces might not have turned the tide.

Geoff Miller wrote:

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) writes:


Whereas I'm ashamed to acknowledge you as a fellow-countryman!



Likewise, you can be sure. I take it, then, that you didn't vote
for Bush?

Damned right! The man should be impeached, and if he hadn't
stacked Congress and the Supreme Court with his cronies, he
would be!

wrote:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...

(snip)

Aka "too stupid to learn more than one language" - and that one poorly, in
many cases! As to "linguistically homogeneous", where do you live? (In
some parts of the country Spanish is more frequently spoken than English.)


Not a matter of stupidity- most people have trouble learning other languages
as an adult. By that, I mean being able to think in the second language and
generate conversation directly, not having to constantly translate in their
head. It's a brain wiring thing. Kids, mostly, learn languages very easily,
up to age 8 or 10 or so.

Actually, I agree with you - my answer was for the
French-bashing troll, and oversymplified to match his
apparent intellectual level.

I've only known 2 people in my life who retained
that ability into adulthood. Some of us, on the other end of the spectrum,
have below-average language learning skills, even though we pick up other
skills and subjects quite easily. I barely remember any of my high school
German, and while I can understand a little of my family's ancestral
language, Latvian, it is mostly from the non-spoken context, face to face.

Yes, my ancestry is German, but the only chance I got to
hear it as a child was when my grandparents spoke German to
each other when they didn't want me to understand what they
were saying. Most imigrants of their generation were too
eager to be "American", and I believe deprived their
offspring of valuable cultural heritages thereby.

For the record- I think waiting till junior high/high school for teaching
foreign language classes is idiotic. I think they should be built into the
grade school curriculum. Not as a scary seperate subject or unit, but as
part of normal teaching. ie, add a few translations to the vocabulary list
each week- 'cat' in english= 'gato' in spanish, etc. When talking about
subject/verb/object in sentences, throw in how sentences are structured in
other languages. Have kids who speak other languages at home walk around the
room and do 'point and say' demonstrations. That sort of thing. Do that from
kindergarten on, and a lot of kids will pick up some non-english skills
without even noticing it. Then, at 5th or 6th grade or so, you can start
having a painless transition to actual language classes. Not aimed at making
them fluent speakers, but to make them able to understand and speak enough
to bail themselves out of common situations.

I couldn't agree more! I think we make a great mistake in
not teaching kids foreign languages in the early grades of
school.